Means for transporting vessels.



E. L. BURWELL.

MEANS FOR TRANSPORTING VESSELS.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 31, 1906.

Patented 00t.20,1908.

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APPLICATION FILED JAN. 31, 1906.

Patented Oct. 20, 1908.

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MEANS r011 TRANSPOBTING VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 31, 1906.

Patented Oct. 20, 1908.

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Wegaas. Ewe/76657 EDWARD L. BURWELL, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMEANS FOR TRANSPORTING VESSELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 20, 1908.

Application filed January 31, 1906. Serial No. 298,767.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. BURWELL, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Chelsea, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improvement in Means for Transporting Vessels, of which thefollowing description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is aspecification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of means whereby avessel or any floating object may be taken from a body of water at onepoint and be transported to a body of water at any other point, howeverdistant.

My invention may be utilized in transporting ships or vessels of anysize overland from one to another point in a cradle, as I shalldesignate as a whole the means em ployed to sustain the ship or vesselout of water in its transits from one to another point. The cradle willtravel on wheels sustained on a plurality of tracks laid after themanner of land tracks in any usual railway construction.

The cradle referred to may be made to enter the water at one point,receive upon it the ship or vessel, be moved to remove the vessel fromthe water, travel over rails to any desired point, and then again enterthe water that the ship or vessel thereon maybe floated off, and thecradle may remain in the second body of water until, for instance,another vessel has been deposited upon it to be transported in theopposite direction.

The cradle in accordance with my invention is provided with a series ofsupports independently sustained on the base of the cradle on which thebottom of the vessel rests, and these supports are made movable inwardlyto contact with the opposite sides of the vessel whatever the beam ofthe same, and whatever its model or outline from stem to stern, it beingunderstood that vessels vary in breadth of beam and shape of outline,and these supports are necessary chiefly to contact with the contour ofthe vessel where her lines are straightest, although I may use supportsextending more or less about the bow stem or under body if necessityrequires, said supports being adjustable in order that they may be madeto contact with any line of the vessel.

The cradle for the best and strongest construction may be composed ofsteel T or I-beams, and the points of the supports to contact with theouter walls of the vessel will be shielded with any non-metallicmaterial to avoid abrasion, and these surfaces will preferably berotatably mounted on the upright portions of the supports, so that asthe vessel settles, the portions of the supports in contact with thevessel will move in unison therewith.

I have provided means by which these supports may be moved out and in bysuitable motor driven mechanism, although my invention is not in allcases to be limited to so moving the supports, as part of the movementmight be efi'ected by manual power or otherwise, and not depart from myinvention.

The supports may be mounted on rollers to obviate friction and enablethem to be moved more readily, and the supports will be readily movedwhile the base of the cradle is under water, the power being appliedfrom suitable engines or other motive force arranged out of the water oron shore.

I believe I am the first to provide a cradle to receive the bottom of aship, the cradle having laterally movable supports extending upwardly tocontact with the sides of the ship, the supports being movable while thecradle is submerged, and I desire to claim my invention broadlyirrespective of the particular construction of supports or actuatingmeans therefor.

Figure l is a view showing a vessel in a body of water with my novelcradle run into the water below the vessel; Fig. 2 is a detail lookingat the end of the cradle, the supports being shown in contact with thesides of the vessel, the latter being represented in dotted outline;Fig. 2* is a detail showing several of the supports and their actuatingmeans; Fig. 3 shows a modified form of cradle; Fig. 4 is a detail inplan view of part of the cradle Fig. 3 with the ship removed, with theropes and tackle-blocks connecting the upper ends of the supportomitted, and Fig. 5 is yet another modification of my invention showinga different form of support.

Referring to Fig. 1, A may be supposed to represent a land station orsuitable powerhouse, A suitable rails, shown in Fig. 2 as six in number,on which run the wheels or made preferably as usual car wheels.

Thecradle comprises a base B to the under side of which as representedis connected suitable metal frames or trusses B having bearings forsustaining the journals of the wheels a.

The base B of the cradle, see Fig. 2 on the larger scale, has a seriesof tracks b that sustain at each side of the base a plurality of wheels6, suitably mounted in the lower ends of the supports 6 contacting withthe vessels side, or any portion of its exterior, whatever the shape ofthe vessel.

The supports shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are represented as substantiallyvertical, and each support has a plurality of contacts 6 preferablypresenting at their surfaces nonmetallic material and preferably made asrollers sustained on pivots b, so that said contacts may rotate as thevessel settles between the supports which have been brought up incontact, as will be described, with the sides of the vessel.

It will be obvious that as the cradle is moved to the right, Fig. 1,from its position therein shown, after the bow of the vessel has beengrounded thereon, the bottom of the vessel must gradually assume theinclination of the top of the base B, and in so doing, as the cradle ismoved gradually out of the water toward the shore, the vessel mustdescend, and its sides will travel over the contacts'.

The supports are represented in Fig. 2 as having a series of braces 6b", and the braces and the supports maintain, as shown in said figure,platforms 6 on which may be mount ed any power-mechanism of whateverconstruction desired to rotate the upright shafts b that are employed tomove the feet of the,

7 supports toward and from the exterior of the vessel.

The shafts 6 as best represented in Fig. 2*, have at their lower endspinions c that engage teeth of stationary racks Z2 there being two suchracks for each support, so that the rotation of the pinions of theshafts in engagement with the stationary racks, causes the supports tobe moved in a right line in one or the other direction according to thedirection of rotation of the shafts 6 The foot of each support will inpractice be provided with a pivoted dog 6 that will click into teeth ofa rack Z2 fixed on the top of the base B.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 2, 0 represents a type of motor driven in anysuitable way and turning a shaft 0 having at its end bevel gears c thatengage bevel gears 0 on the upright shafts b to turn said shafts.

Each upright shaft 6 has a second bevel pinion c loosely splinedthereon, so that it may be slid upwardly on said shaft when it is notdesired that said pinion be operative.

Referring to Fig. 2, I have represented two chocks, it being supposedthat there are a series of them more or less in number according to thelength of the vessel, each chock having extended from it a tail-piece Dsuitably racked to be engaged by the teeth of a pinion 61 having aseries of connected bevel teeth, the said bevel teeth being adapted tobe engaged when desired by the bevel teeth of the pinion c, the latterbeing thrown into operative engagement whenever it is desired to operatethe chocks.

It will be understood that the supports and chocks may be moved towardand from the vessels exterior when the base of the cradle and saidsupports are submerged, the chocks acting against the bottom.

The cradle is shown as having a connected cable E that may be controlledby a revolving winch or any other usual actuating means, there being itwill be understood a cable or winch for each pair of tracks, the powerrequired being more or less according to the weight of the vessel andher cargo.

It will be understood when the cradle with a ship or vessel has beenpulled out of the water, that the cradle with its load may be made totravel over tracks which lead from the place where the vessel was takenout of the water to any other body of Water into which the vessel is tobe discharged, and the motive power or means for causing the movement ofthe cradle over the tracks may be of any nature known to engineering.

The'supports after the vessel has settled between the same on the baseof the cradle may, through tackle G, represented in Fig. 2, andconnected with opposite supports, be hauled by the sailors and madefast, thus trussing the vessel and more snugly maintaining the samebetween the supports.

The wheels I) of the supports are prevented from leaving the tracks 6 bymeans of top bars 5*, which come close to but are maintained out ofcontact with the wheels, said top bars b preventing any upward orbackward tipping over of the supports when the pressure of the vesselcomes against the same. 7

In the modification Fig. 3, the uprights are extended upwardly from thebars having rack-teeth 2 at their upper side, which are engaged bypinions 3 on shafts l driven by any suitable gear. These pinions may bemounted loosely on the shafts and have coacting with them suitableclutches whereby the pinions may be made fast on the shafts to berotated thereby as it may be desired to move one or another of thesupports in or out.

The lower portions of the supports in Fig. 3 are free to slide throughsuitable stands mounted on the base of the cradle and these stands maycontain anti-friction devices to prevent friction of the horizontalparts of the supports in their out and in movement.

The crocks D shown in Fig. 3 have antifriction rollers 10, 12, those 10running on tracks 13 mounted on the top 14 of the base while the otherrollers 12 run on tracks 15 at a lower lever of the base.

The shafts 4 and pinions 3 are represented in Figs. 3 and 4t as beingrotated by or through sprocket chains 16, 16 deriving their motion, butin opposite direction, from sprocket wheel 17, 17 X on shaft 18, 18shaft 18 deriving its movement from shafts 19 correspondingsubstantially with the shafts 5 Fig. 2, rotated in any usual manner, oras provided for with relation to Figs. 2 and 2 The shaft 18 is rotatedfrom shaft 18 through two pinions 40 and 41, Fig. 4:.

In the modification Fig. 5, the supports H, H are represented as curvedsurfaces carried by levers mounted on fulcra at h, h and preferablyadjustable on said fulcra, so that the acting ends or contact points ofthe portions H, II of the supports may be thrust in or out according tothe particular configuration of the vessel in cross-section.

The opposite ends of the levers carrying the contacts H and II are shownas connected by a link 72?, which in practice will be so constructedthat the point of connection of said link with said arms may be adjustedaccording to the extent of movement desired to give the contacts, thatthey may be brought snugly against the sides of the vessel. Thesecontacts will be covered with non-metallic material as provided for thecontacts in Fig. 2.

The contacts H and H derive their movement through rack bars 11, thatmay be moved out or in through pinions h on shafts 72 which shafts maybe substantially the same as shafts 1 in Figs. 3 and 4, and said shaftsmay derive their rotation as provided for in reference to said figuresor in any other usual or suitable manner.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1. In an apparatus of the class described, acradle having slidably sustained supports extending above the ground,means for moving said supports toward and from the vessel to maintainthe vessel upright in said cradle, and means operated by tackle forconfining said supports in position in contact with the sides of thevessel.

'2. In apparatus of the class described, a cradle having slidablysustained supports extended above the gunwale, and means for moving saidsupports toward and from the vessel to maintain the vessel upright insaid cradle.

3. In apparatus of the class described, a cradle comprising a basehaving three or more longitudinal series of wheels to run ontracks, andmetallic slidable supports extended upwardly above the water line, andcontacting with the sides of the vessel above its bilge, and means tomove said supports automatically toward and from the vessel when thecradle is submerged.

1. In apparatus of the class described, a cradle having slidablysustained supports, and slidably sustained chocks, means for moving saidsupports toward and from the vessel, and means for moving said chocksunder the bottom of the vessel toward and from the keel.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD L. BURWELL.

Witnesses:

GEO. WV. GREGORY, MARGARET A. DUNN.

